Not much to comment on, really, other than that I wonder how they’re going to deal with people who don’t carry ID. I would imagine these targeted neighborhoods have a higher-than-average proportion of people without government-issued ID. This is just a really bad idea; it sounds copied from TSA’s belief that 1) having ID means something useful and 2) it’s possible to somehow create a meaningful “secure zone.”

To be fair, as I was once told by someone who lived in a Baltimore housing project, if a white person were foolish enough to enter the project, just about every male in the place would run and hide, assuming it’s someone from the police coming to follow up on a warrant — apparently just about everyone has an outstanding bench warrant. Checking ID would probably pull in a lot of people, if they so desired.

My guess as well is that they would be much better off with a holistic approach, regardless of the obvious civil-liberties problems, but I’m not a cop. I’d be curious to know the opinion of the people who will be protected by the “secure zone;” the law-abiding citizens who will be let through the cordon. Freedom of movement is, generally speaking, considered constitutionally protected. And there’s nothing much more intimidating than knowing that you can be arrested simply for not having the right piece of paper with you. Soviet, indeed.

Also, I think it goes without saying that it’s not only “economic factors” driving crime; among others, criminalization of many activities also takes its toll.